There are currently two Orwell Lectures: The Orwell Memorial Lecture, held annually at University College London and The Orwell Lecture in the North at the University of Sheffield, in association with The Sir Bernard Crick Centre.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture has been given annually since 1989. The lecture has attracted notable speakers including Dr Rowan Williams, Dame Hilary Mantel, Robin Cook and Ian Hislop. Originally held at Birkbeck, University of London and the University of Sheffield.
This page features a comprehensive list of lectures, with links to recordings of the lectures on The Orwell Foundation YouTube account, and/or published transcripts where available.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2018
Unbecoming British - Kamila Shamsie‘Citizenship, Migration and the Transformation of Rights into Privileges’
Kamila Shamsie is the author of seven novels, including Burnt Shadows and A God in Every Stone. Home Fire won the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2017
Orwell with women - A. L. KennedyAlison (A L) Kennedy is an award-winning author, stand-up comedian, journalist and Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick. Her fiction includes Day (winner of the Costa Book of the Year Award 2007), The Blue Book and Serious Sweet
A. L. Kennedy said: “Deeply associated with political thinking – and our increasingly rapid descent into newspeak and unhistory – Orwell was also a meticulously close observer of women and placed them at the centre of his imaginative life. A famously self-contained man, often part of all-male groups, Orwell nevertheless had an enduring and vital relationship with the female. The talk will look at the different threads of this relationship.”
The Orwell Lecture in the North 2017
'I've read all the academic texts on empathy' - Grayson PerryThe inaugural Orwell Lecture in the North was delivered by Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry. The lecture, which was covered in The Observer, was delivered to a capacity audience at the Octagon Centre, Sheffield, was not recorded and there is no transcript available.
Perry said: “I am an artist and I am a great believer in the power of culture to communicate in ways that are particular to the arts, a more holistic style of relaying information that talks not only to the intellect but the heart, body and soul as well. We need to harness and grow this power as a force for good, a force that can bind us in deep and lovely ways we did not even know were happening.”
The Orwell Lecture in the North is a collaborative venture between The Orwell Foundation and The Bernard Crick Centre at the University of Sheffield.
The Orwell Prize Shortlist Lecture 2017
'Nationalism should not be confused with patriotism' - Our Divided Politics - Ruth Davidson MSPRuth Davidson is the leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh Central. After graduating from Edinburgh University, Davidson worked as a BBC journalist and signaller in the Territorial Army. She joined the Conservative Party in 2009 and was elected leader in 2011. The Orwell Prize Shortlist Lecture 2017 was produced in partnership with UCL’s Constitution Unit.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2016
The Right to Dissent (and the Left too) - Ian HislopThe Orwell Memorial Lecture 2016 was given by editor of Private Eye, Ian Hislop at University College London. Ian Hislop is a writer, editor and broadcaster. He was educated at Ardingly College and Magdalen College, Oxford. He has been editor of Private Eye since 1986 and is probably best known for his role as a regular team captain on the BBC show Have I Got News for You.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2015
War, Words and Reason: Orwell and Thomas Merton on the Crises of Language – Dr Rowan WilliamsDr Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, gave the 2015 Orwell Lecture on 17th November 2015, at University College London. A full transcript of Dr Williams’ lecture is available on The Orwell Foundation website.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2014
‘Whatever Happened to Social Mobility’ – David KynastonDavid Kynaston is a historian and author of City of London: The History and Austerity Britain, 1945–1951. An adapted version of the lecture is available courtesy of The Guardian.
The Orwell Prize Lecture in Myanmar
Timothy Garton AshBritish historian, author and commentator, and Orwell Fellow Timothy Garton Ash gave an Orwell Lecture at the inaugural Irrawaddy Literary Festival in Myanmar in 2013.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2013
Democratising the Middle East: A New Role for the West – Professor Tariq RamadanThe Orwell Memorial Lecture 2012
Secrets of the Cuban Missile Crisis – Professor Christopher AndrewProfessor Christopher Andrew is a historian of modern and contemporary history at the University of Cambridge and author of Secret Service: The Making of the British Intelligence Community (1985).
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2011
Hacking away at the truth: an investigation and its consequences – Alan RusbridgerAlan Rusbridger was the editor-in-chief of The Guardian newspaper for twenty years (1995 – 2015). He is now the Chair of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2010
Orwell and the Oligarchs – Ferdinand MountSir William Robert Ferdinand Mount, 3rd Baronet, FRSL, is a British writer, novelist and columnist for The Sunday Times as well as a political commentator.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2009
'More like a castle than a realm': Thomas Cromwell's Radical England – Hilary MantelDame Hilary Mary Mantel, DBE, FRSL is an English writer whose work includes personal memoirs, short stories, and historical fiction. She is a twice winner of the Man Booker Prize.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2008
The English – Andrew O'HaganAndrew O’Hagan, FRSL is a Scottish novelist and non-fiction author.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2007
The Politics of Response – Michael RosenMichael Rosen is an English author, novelist and poet best known for his work for children. A transcript of Rosen’s lecture is available courtesy of his website.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2006
Homo Brittanicus, Soctophobia and All That – Neal AschersonNeal Ascherson is a Scottish journalist and writer. He won The Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2004.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2005
Projections of the inner 'I': George Orwell's Fiction – D.J. TaylorDavid John Taylor is a British critic, novelist and biographer. After attending school in Norwich, he read Modern History at St John’s College, Oxford, and has received the 2003 Whitbread Biography Award for his biography of George Orwell. His novel Derby Day was longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize. He is a trustee of The Orwell Foundation.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2004
Just Law: The changing fact of justice and why it matters – Baronness Helena Kennedy QCHelena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, QC, FRSA, HonFRSE is a British barrister, broadcaster, and Labour member of the House of Lords. Baroness Kennedy is a current patron of The Orwell Youth Prize.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2003
From Authority to Celebrity - Intellectuals in Modern Britain – Professor Stefan ColliniStefan Collini is an English literary critic and academic who is Professor of English Literature and Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge and an Emeritus Fellow of Clare Hall. An excerpt of the lecture is available courtesy of The Independent.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2002
Professor Patrick WrightPatrick Wright is a British writer, broadcaster and academic in the fields of cultural studies and cultural history.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2001
House of Memory and London's Orbital Motorway – Iain SinclairIain Sinclair FRSL is a Welsh writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, most recently within the influences of psychogeography.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 2000
Nation, State and Globalisation – Martin WolfMartin Harry Wolf, CBE is a British journalist who focuses on economics. A version of the 2000 lecture is available courtesy of the European Business Review.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1999
The English Problem: National Identity and Citizenship – Professor Sir Bernard CrickSir Bernard Crick was a British political theorist and democratic socialist whose views can be summarised as “politics is ethics done in public”. He was the founder of the original Orwell Prize and author of George Orwell: A Life.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1998
Orwell's 'little list' – Professor Peter DavisonPeter Hobley Davison, OBE, Ph.D., D.Litt., Hon. D. Arts, is emeritus professor of English at Glyndŵr University. Davison is a leading authority on the life and works of George Orwell and is editor of The Complete Works of George Orwell (1998).
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1997
Inside the Whale: the Relationship between the State and the Individual – Frank Field MPFrank Ernest Field DL is a British independent politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Birkenhead since 1979. From 1997 to 1998, he served as the Minister of Welfare Reform in Tony Blair’s government.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1996
The Ministry of Agriculture: The Ministry of Truth – Professor Richard LaceyRichard Lacey is Professor of Clinical Microbiology at Leeds University. Lacey became a household name when he warned the world against BSE and variant CJD (‘Mad Cow Disease’).
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1995
Risk – Professor Anthony GiddensAnthony Giddens, Baron Giddens is a British sociologist who is known for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies. He is the author of Beyond Left and Right (1994) and The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy (1998).
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1994
But is it Socialism? – Rt. Hon. Roy Hattersley MPRoy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, PC, FRSL is a British Labour politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook for 33 years from 1964 to 1997. He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1993
Changing the Legal Culture – Helena Kennedy QCHelena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, QC, FRSA, HonFRSE is a British barrister, broadcaster, and Labour member of the House of Lords. Baroness Kennedy is a current patron of The Orwell Youth Prize.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1992
Socialist Values – Robin Cook MPThe late Robert Finlayson Cook was a British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for Livingston from 1983 until his death in 2005, and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001. He resigned from his positions as Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons on 17 March 2003 in protest against the invasion of Iraq.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1991
Fiction and Agnosticism – Penelope LivelyDame Penelope Margaret Lively is a British writer of fiction for both children and adults. Lively has won both the Booker Prize and the Carnegie Medal for British children’s books.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1990
Must Revolutions Fail? – Sir Ralf DahrendorfRalf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, KBE, FBA (1929-2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician.
The Orwell Memorial Lecture 1989
Big Brother, Big Sister and Today's Media – Bruce KentBruce Kent is a British political activist and a former Roman Catholic priest. Active in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, he was the organisation’s general secretary from 1980 to 1985 and its chair from 1987 to 1990.